EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT Scientific Technology Options Assessment S T O A The role of Nanotechnology in Chemical Substitution STUDY IPOL/A/STOA/ST/2006-029 PE 383.212 This project was commissioned by STOA under Framework Contract IP/A/STOA/FWC/2005-28). The associated workshop, "The Role of Nanotechnology in Chemical Substitution" was organised by the European Parliament in Brussels on 13 September 2006. Only published in English. Authors: ETAG European Technology Assessment Group Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis (ITAS), Karlsruhe Danish Board of Technology (DBT), Copenhagen Flemish Institute for Science and Technology Assessment (viWTA), Brussels Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST), London Rathenau Institute, The Hague Dr. Ulrich Fiedeler, ITAS E-mail: [email protected] Administrator: Mr. Miklos Györffi Policy Department A: Economic and Scientific Policy DG Internal Policies European Parliament Rue Wiertz 60 - ATR 00K076 B-1047 Brussels Tel: +32 (0)2 283 25 05 Fax: +32 (0)2 284 49 84 E-mail: [email protected] Manuscript completed in April 2007. The opinions expressed in this document do not necessarily represent the official position of the European Parliament. Reproduction and translation for non-commercial purposes are authorised provided the source is acknowledged and the publisher is given prior notice and receives a copy. E-mail: poldep- [email protected]. IP/A/STOA/ST/2006-029 PE 383.212 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY..............................................................................................................ii 2 PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE SUBJECT ...............................................................................1 3 WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY? ...............................................................................................3 3.1 Political background of NT......................................................................................................3 3.2 Technical definition of NT.......................................................................................................3 3.3 Main characteristics of NT.......................................................................................................5 3.4 What is NT in this project? ......................................................................................................5 4 SUBSTITUTION.............................................................................................................................7 4.1 Background..............................................................................................................................7 4.2 What does substitution mean in respect to NT?.......................................................................8 4.3 How to identify a hazardous substance? ................................................................................10 4.4 List of hazardous substances..................................................................................................11 5 METHODOLOGY ........................................................................................................................14 5.1 Approach................................................................................................................................14 5.2 Research strategy ...................................................................................................................14 5.3 Validation...............................................................................................................................15 6 CATEGORISATION OF THE FINDINGS ..................................................................................16 7 FINDINGS.....................................................................................................................................17 7.1 Coatings .................................................................................................................................17 7.1.1 Self cleaning surfaces.....................................................................................................17 7.1.2 Biocide coatings.............................................................................................................19 7.1.3 Coatings for various purposes........................................................................................20 7.2 Flame retardants.....................................................................................................................22 7.3 Flexibiliser .............................................................................................................................23 7.4 Substitution or reduction of solvents .....................................................................................23 7.5 Catalysts.................................................................................................................................24 7.6 Other examples ......................................................................................................................26 7.7 Remediation ...........................................................................................................................28 7.8 NT as risk...............................................................................................................................29 8 CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................30 8.1 Conclusions related to the approach ......................................................................................30 8.2 Conclusions related to the Findings.......................................................................................31 8.3 Outlook ..................................................................................................................................33 8.3.1 Detailed Analysis ...........................................................................................................33 8.3.2 Exploitation of unknown fields of application...............................................................34 8.4 Recommendations..................................................................................................................34 9 LITERATURE...............................................................................................................................36 10 APPENDIX................................................................................................................................42 10.1 Summary and Results of the Validation Workshop...............................................................42 10.1.1 Participants of the Validation Workshop .......................................................................42 10.1.2 Report on the Workshop ................................................................................................44 10.1.3 Discussion ......................................................................................................................52 10.1.4 Summary ........................................................................................................................54 10.2 List of functionalities of NT...................................................................................................54 10.3 Interviews...............................................................................................................................61 10.4 Reports Reviewed ..................................................................................................................83 10.5 Journals Reviewed .................................................................................................................86 10.6 Experts ...................................................................................................................................87 11 GLOSSARY ..............................................................................................................................90 IP/A/STOA/ST/2006-029 i PE 383.212 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY OBJECTIVE This project is one of ten projects the Scientific Technology Option Assessment (STOA) panel has initiated this year. The project is called: ‘The role of Nanotechnology in Chemical Substitution’. The aim of the project is to give an overview of already used and conceivable applications of Nanotechnology (NT) in order to replace hazardous chemicals. The overall idea behind this project is to identify new applications of NT which could help to reduce the risks related to hazardous substances and chemical processes. One prominent example is the substitution of anti-fouling coatings used in the ship industry by nanotechnological based coatings, which are already under investigation (AMBIO-project, http://www.ambio.bham.ac.uk/). BACKGROUND The project is focused on the identification of concepts or ideas for substitution in the field of NT. The assessment of the hazardous potential of the nanotechnological substitute itself IS NOT OBJECTIVE OF THIS STUDY, NOR IS THE EVALUATION OF THE FEASIBILITY AND EFFICIENCY OF THE concepts for substitution. Related to the objective of this study three questions have to be addressed at the beginning of the project: 1. Which substances are considered as ‘hazardous chemicals’? Since this project is focused on determining the potential of NT, the issue of how a substance can be identified as hazardous is discussed only briefly. Nevertheless, to estimate